Chapter 811

“Pretty soon Gaston hit two and now he wanted to be a swordsman. Before that, he didn’t really have a clear idea of what the guards did, he just thought they looked cool. Now, he wanted to be a cool swordsman more specifically, Still. I did know that training too much so young could cause him issues so I did my best to encourage the guardsmen ‘training’ him to make it all seem like tougher training then it was,

“The best idea me and the boys came up with was pretty funny in the end. We’d give him a stick and tell him to hold it with his arm out straight for as long as he could. Which was basically nothing at all, so he spent more time glaring at the stick than lifting it. It did however keep him focused. We’d tease him about not being able to do it with a stick when the men could use a metal sword. He’d puff his cheeks up and glare at me when I said it. Made it very hard not to laugh.

“That kept him occupied all the way up till he was five. Oh sometimes we’d have to mix things around a bit but for the most part he would spend time messing around with his sword till he got tired, then come bother me till he recovered, rinse and repeat. Gaston was... perhaps easily amused is the wrong descriptor... but he did truly enjoy the things that made him happy. I don’t want to say he was a simple boy...

“I got him started on basic maths at three, my parents taught me with a rhyme that I past on to him and he took to it like a duck to water... he just didn’t enjoy it. He used his proficiency at maths to avoid doing it for any longer than necessary. It did make me somewhat worried for the future of the company... but I know quite well that a women can run it just as well obviously. So I was hoping he’d marry a smart girl and I could train her instead.

“Oh I’m sure Gaston would have taken my place one day if necessary. I know this from how he behaved later in life. All about responsibility he was. I don’t think he’d enjoy it for a moment. Books and numbers were simply never his cup of tea. I actually had great hopes for Zuhra once upon a time... but we can get to those later on in my story.

“Once he hit five, Gaston managed to work out something was wrong. He actually confronted my right on his birthday about it. Saying he didn’t want presents, he wanted to know why I wasn’t letting him train properly. I told him I could explain it, or I could let a few people who knew better then me explain it in my stead. Greedy little boy he was said he wanted BOTH explanations.

“So I told him, then set him loose on three other people. The first was the guard captain. Not really a captain and completely retired. He’s still in charge of my guardsmen’s training, development and deployment. He makes sure all caravans have an appropriate level of force and people are only paired with those they can work with. I can’t keep track of the interpersonal relationships between everyone. So I give the caravan a combat score and he matches that.

.....

“After Gaston was done with the captain I sent him to the healer. She is a lovely lady around my age that forever insists that she is not a mage, has no healing affinity and does not, and never has had, a healing artifact. Personally I think she’s a lying liar who lies... but she just uses the excuse ‘we can grow basically any rare plant here that isn’t fire attributed, I can make very potent poultices and potions’ but frankly she is a bit TOO good. That and I sometimes wonder if she’s really my age or just able to heal herself back in years.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“It doesn’t really matter though. She doesn’t charge as much as she should, gives us great service and I’m not going to piss of the powerful healer that wants to pretend to be an above average medic. After her, I sent him to the final individual. I actually had to pull some strings for it but I got him a meeting with the guard captain in charge of the defence of the 5th compound. I don’t know the woman personally, but she’s well regarded in the city as one of the best fighters and I thought it would be good enough,”

Belle paused to open a drawer and pull out a glass and a pitcher of clear liquid. The slight burning sensation on her nostrils informed Kat it wasn’t water, “Want a glass of water?” asked Belle. Kat felt her eye twitch at that. Staring back with a frown on her face, Kat wasn’t really sure what to make of the question.

*Is she... does she not realise that’s clearly vodka... or perhaps something stronger? Does she actually think that’s water? Or is she offering us water and it’s somewhere else?* Kat and Lily shook their heads and then watched Belle down the glass in a single motion. *That... that cannot be healthy.*

“Sorry I was a bit parched,” said Belle innocently. Not even a slight reddening on her face. If Kat didn’t have enhanced senses it would have all looked perfectly normal. Yup, just a large glass of perfectly normal water.

*Should I say something? And yes Lily I am asking,*

[Well...] Belle clicked her fingers. “Just because I took a nice water break doesn’t mean I don’t want to be included in the conversation anymore,” *IT’S NOT WATER* “but I guess you might have wanted to take the chance to chat a bit between yourselves. It’s a lot to take in and that was only the first five years of Gaston’s life.

“Up till he was six... he was honestly a bit lost,” said Belle wistfully, “it was actually a bit after his six birthday it changed but for basically the whole year... he just didn’t know what to do with himself. He really enjoyed training, even if it wasn’t doing much. It seemed he just enjoyed the feeling of working his muscles.

“So he was looking for something else to do. He tried throwing himself into his numbers, and learnt to read at a basic level. He tried really hard to get into it... but I could tell he wasn’t ever pleased with the time he spent on it. Another thing he tried was archery. If he couldn’t get stronger, he thought he could be more accurate. Then he snapped the bow string, scouring a deep cut in his arm, and gave up on that. He tried a few other things to little to no success.

“Finally, a couple months after his birthday he settled down a bit with things because he managed to discover the joys of knife throwing. I was not impressed at the time because he actually me for a set of throwing knives to practice with. Sadly for me, even practice knives need to be of a certain quality to embed themselves in the target. His birthday had past and all of a sudden he was asking for something so expensive...

“I remember the conversation so well. Part of me really wanted to just cave in and buy them. My Gaston never asked for all that much. He was grateful for what he had and he really respected all the time my employees gave him. Truthfully that was the biggest expenditure. A lot of the time he spent with them was paid time. Plenty of them continued to play with Gaston after hours or on their days of and never asked for more payment... but they were still paid for a lot of it and I never begrudged them that.

“So I used it as a chance to properly introduce him to money. I explained to him how much they cost and worked out how many meals he could eat with that money. Gaston was always a big eater see, and while he wasn’t a big foodie, he did indulge in a lot of it. Still... a set was something ridiculous like two years’ worth of meals I think. So I asked him to do some work. Just basic stuff, cleaning up around the place you know?

“He put his all into the work. He scrubbed the floors once a day, dusted all the counter tops every second, organised the paperwork for everyone else throughout the day when it was left unattended. He put so much effort into the month of work I asked from him... I went a little overboard and brought a rather nice set of knives for him. Certainly better then I was planning for. It was so worth it to see his smile... even if he was missing a tooth at the time,” Kat’s eyebrow raised but Belle waved it off, “it was just a baby tooth but it was one of his front teeth and very memorable,”